1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a racket for ball games, in particular a tennis, badminton, racquetball, or squash racket.
2. Description of the Related Art
Ball game rackets typically have a frame forming a racket head or a head region as well as a grip or handle portion. Furthermore, rackets can have a throat or heart portion or a fork being arranged between the head region and the grip portion, wherein the racket head defines a stringing plane in which the stringing of the racket is arranged. For retaining the individual strings of the stringing, through holes through which the individual strings can be passed are provided at the frame in the stringing plane.
Moreover it is known that it can be advantageous to form the bridge with a mechanical break or slit and to optionally additionally insert a dampening material into the bridge.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,617 for example discloses a ball game racket with a head portion, a handle portion and two arm portions being arranged in a V-shaped manner and whose ends pass into the handle portion and then merge. The racket further comprises a spring-mounted arm which extends from the transition area of both arm portions towards the head portion. This spring-mounted arm forms a yoke or bridge at its end which retains part of the strings. An elongated dwell time of the ball in the string bed is allegedly achieved due to the springing.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,572 describes a sport racket with a split bridge that comprises a break in which an insert part is arranged in order to reduce player arm stress in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,311,308 describes a tennis racket with an insert part in the heart region to which at least a few strings can be secured. This insert part can be developed in the shape of a hinge with a hinge axis in the stringing plane and basically parallel to the longitudinal axis of the racket. The insert part should be able to be elastically deformable due to the impulse of an incoming ball, namely in a direction perpendicular to the stringing plane.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,552 discloses a tennis racket whose frame shows curved recesses in the heart region. A yoke piece (or a bridge) has curved ends which are basically adapted to the curving of these recesses. Between the yoke ends and the recesses of the frame a dampening disc made of elastomeric material is provided. This dampening disc should help to diminish shocks and vibrations in the racket.
FR 2 845 610 describes a tennis racket whose frame comprises a fork with two arms. A bar completes the frame between both arms wherein the connection between the bar and the arms comprises at least one mechanical break. Optionally, elastic connection pieces are provided between each of the arms and the bar.
Usually, the frame of such a racket is formed by a frame profile which is often produced of a carbon fiber reinforced plastics material in a molding press by blow molding. Generally, the bridge is pressed together and thus connected with the remaining frame. One alternative is the subsequent bolting of a bridge portion produced in a different way.
Thus, for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,209,170 describes a tennis racket with a bridge insert made of an elastomeric material which is affixed to the frame of the racket by means of fixing elements.
With the rackets known from the prior art, an optimal ball control, an optimal stiffness and optimal damping behavior of a racket is, however, not given so that accuracy, impulse absorption and handling or playability behavior of these known rackets have further room for improvement. Furthermore, with the rackets known from the prior art, no optimal acceleration that is transferable from the racket to the ball can be achieved. In particular, with the rackets already known it is not yet possible to selectively control the deformation of the racket frame caused by the impact of the ball onto the racket and the respective impulse absorption or to effectively transform the impulse into striking power.
Furthermore, the known method for manufacturing a racket, namely producing the whole frame in one step by blow molding, is disadvantageous as the connection of the bridge portion to the remaining frame is labor-intensive and can often cause flawed seams or breaks at the transition.